In the Absense of Light
by Draco's-Loyal-Longing
Summary: Voldemort was defeated that night, but someone else arrived before Hagrid. Harry is raised by Sirius, who has been in hiding for the past ten years. When they are found, the wizarding world soon discovers Harry Potter isn't who they expected...DarkHarry,
1. Taken Away

**Disclaimer: Harry Potter is not mine. Duh.**

The Unspeakable happened. The Dark Lord had finally attacked the people he wanted dead most of all (aside from Dumbledore). And young Sirius Black was standing in the remnants of all that remained.

All the happy memories of all that had taken place at Potter Manor were wiped out with one simple incantation and the flicker of a wand. Nothing would ever be the same again, and Sirius realized this just looking at everything that he had once known to be more strong than anything Voldemort could throw their way.

His thoughts were abruptly thrown aside as a soft crying entered his ears. Turning his head, he tried to identify the source of the crying. Digging through all the rubble, his heart jumped to his throat the minute he found what he had not expected.

His best friend's only child—his godson—Harry Potter was still alive, crying for his parents as if he had just awoken from a bad dream. He bent down and picked up the sobbing child, bringing up close to him and stroking his small back.

"It's okay Harry. Everything's okay. I'm here and I won't let anything bad happen to you ever again."

It brought a tear to his eye to see Harry Potter alone without his parents with a freshly glowing scar. This, Sirius now saw, was the source of the child's pain and he knew it as soon as he saw it. It looked as if it had been branded onto his forehead, it was so red.

"We must go. They'll be looking for you any minute now," Sirius whispered and, with a heavy heart, looked at his best friend's house one last time, took Harry Potter and ran off towards his motorbike, and was gone.

At the same time, a giant man by the name of Rubeus Hagrid had just arrived to the site of the destroyed Potter Manor and was disturbed to say the least.

"H-He's gone!" the giant wailed heavily but didn't want to believe it just yet. He too bent down and started to dig through all the rubble, searching for the little boy who thwarted the Dark Lord away.

But he was nowhere to be found. All he discovered was James and Lily's dead bodies. With teardrops the size of eggs, he sat down and prepared what he would say to Dumbledore about Harry Potter missing.

* * *

The funeral for James and Lily Potter was undoubtedly the most grievous in the wizarding community. As Albus Dumbledore stood in front of the tombs, he surveyed those present and finally came to the conclusion that the only two people that weren't there and should be were Sirius Black and Harry Potter.

"Where do you think he is, Albus?" Remus Lupin asked, paying his respects to the tombs.

"Somewhere safe Remus. That I am sure of," Dumbledore answered, giving him a reassuring smile.

"He could be anywhere, you know."

"Yes, but he is in good hands. And as long as he is in good hands, I am not worried."

"But he is not safe. Surely you must realize that!" Remus said as softly as he could so that no one else could overhear them.

"The Order will never stop looking for him, Remus. I know you care about Harry, but there isn't a soul here who doesn't. And seeing as how Lord Voldemort is gone and the Death Eaters have disappeared I see no harm in not starting the search right away," Dumbledore explained calmly.

"But Albus…"

"No, now is not the time. Right now we must take our seats and pay our respects."

As the funeral started, two figures stood in the distance, watching with sad eyes. "Soon you will know just how respected your parents were, Harry. I promise you that."

As the funeral ended and with everybody leaving, Dumbledore looked ahead of the tombs and smiled as he made out a large black dog and a small baby on his back walking off in the distance.

* * *

**A/N: Yes I know that was probably confusing. It will make much more sense next chapter since this was only the prologue. Let me know what you think! Again, this is only the prologue, bear with me.**


	2. Happy Birthday Harry

**A/N: Yes, yes, yes I know I'm horrible. I'm a terrible procrastinator and even then this chapter took forever to write. Sorry again, just read and review.**

* * *

"Harry? Harry where are you?" a concerned voice called out in the distance. Ten-year-old Harry Potter rolled his eyes but turned around and picked up his skateboard anyway. Tomorrow was going to be his eleventh birthday and, according to his godfather, it was going to be the best one he had ever had. But he didn't believe it. All his other birthdays had been the same.

They were all like any other day only with a cake.

Harry didn't blame Sirius however. He knew his godfather was trying. He appreciated it all, but knew that Sirius was having a hard time. He knew that Sirius had rescued him after his parents had been killed by an evil wizard and that it was the best thing he could think of to do because he knew what would've happened to him if he hadn't.

Harry still got nightmares just thinking of all the terrible stories Sirius told him of his only living blood relatives, the Dursleys. Sirius told him that his Aunt Petunia was his mother's sister and that she married a man named Vernon and had his cousin Dudley. Sirius remembered Lily telling him and his father all kinds of horrible stories about Petunia. When Sirius had gotten word of where Harry was about to go after his parents deaths, he intervened before a man named Hagrid had gotten to him.

He remained forever grateful to him, but still got the lonely feeling. Whenever they weren't running around and they got a day to themselves Sirius was always inside worrying about trackers and whether or not they were spotted or not and told Harry to go out and meet some new people or go out and play or something.

But that didn't mean that they never did anything together. After all, Sirius was the one who taught Harry to skateboard and bought him his first one two years ago. He had said that it was a favored Muggle pastime and that he had found it rather enjoyable as a kid.

There were more things. Sirius had given Harry a proper education for a young wizard boy that wasn't yet old enough to attend Hogwarts. He had taught him the use of a wand and had bought him a toy wand when he was a toddler that emitted little ribbon sparks and tiny animals such as a frog and a squirrel. Even though he was about to turn eleven and start Hogwarts in September, he still kept his toy wand and still waved it around whenever he was bored or needed another companion.

As Harry approached the house they were currently staying at he saw Sirius sitting on the porch swing, looking out into the sky. Harry saw this as odd since Sirius preferred the inside to a house. "It's more safe this way," he would say whenever his godson would beg him to go outside and play with him.

"Sirius, what are you doing?" Harry asked as he put his skateboard down and joined his godfather on the swing.

"Enjoying life with you while I still can," he replied simply, his eyes fixed on the sky.

Harry turned his attention to the sky as well, trying to figure out what transfixed him so much.

"What are you talking about?" he finally asked.

Sirius smiled, then turned to Harry. "I mean your eleventh birthday is tomorrow. You know what that means. You're finally old enough to attend Hogwarts and I won't be able to see you for one whole school year," he explained sadly.

"I'll be able to see you during holidays like Christmas," Harry offered but it didn't look like it did Sirius any good.

"Everything will be different you know. It seems like only yesterday that you were a baby and I picked you up out of all that rubble. Now you'll be getting a proper education and will probably become the finest wizard I ever knew," Sirius said.

Harry smiled. "Can we go inside now? I'm getting hungry."

"Yes we can. I made steaks. Are you up for a steak?"

"Yeah." Harry smiled and went inside the house with Sirius to eat his dinner.

* * *

The letter came the following day. "Wake up Harry! It's your birthday and I have an early birthday present for you!" Harry heard his godfather say. He stirred and reached for his glasses. When his vision became clear he saw a beaming Sirius holding an envelope addressed to him in emerald green ink.

Mr. H. Potter

The Last Room On The Left

21 Augustus Street

London

"What is this? Is this the letter?" Harry asked as he stared at the address. It was so specific that he couldn't think of what else it could be.

"You bet. Take a look inside!" he exclaimed and put the letter in his hand. He tore the envelope and took out two pieces of parchment the first of which looked to be a letter.

Sirius watched happily as Harry read the letter, his expression remaining the same. When he was finished he looked into his godfather's eyes. "So it's official, is it? I'm finally officially accepted in Hogwarts," he said, giving Sirius a half smile.

"Yes. I knew it would come soon. I daresay we'll have to go into town today and buy your school supplies!"

"Today? But it's my birthday," Harry moaned, disappointed.

"But Harry, I thought you'd be thrilled! I thought you'd want to go to Diagon Alley to buy your school supplies today. I thought it would be nice for you to buy your first real wand on your birthday," Sirius explained.

Harry hesitated. He didn't want to let Sirius down even more but at the same time he didn't really want to buy school supplies on his birthday. He wanted to enjoy the time he had left with his godfather, and told him as much.

"Alright. We'll go into Diagon Alley tomorrow."

Harry changed and went downstairs to a spectacular breakfast, one of which even he couldn't possibly have imagined. "Did you cook all this yourself?" he asked in amazement.

"Yes, I did. With a little help of course," he said and pointed to a small brown house elf that was standing by the kitchen table.

"Where did you get a house elf?" Harry asked as he sat down.

"He belongs to the owners of this house. He said he'd be glad to serve us as long as he lived here while his previous owners were out, didn't you Willy?"

"Yes Willy did, Sir," the house elf squeaked.

Harry laughed and took a bite out of his eggs. "These are good."

"Well they should be. I made those!" Sirius said proudly. They ate their breakfast happily, thoughts of school pushed to the back of their minds.

After breakfast they went out to London. "We're just going to be regular Muggles and do ordinary muggle activities. I don't want us thinking about the wizarding world once today. Today is our day," Sirius explained. Harry smiled and nodded.

First they went to a movie. Harry didn't know what it was but enjoyed it nonetheless. Then they went to the zoo and then to a fancy muggle restaurant where they ordered the most expensive things they could find and did their best paying, using the excuse that they were foreigners that weren't used to English money.

After that they spent some time at a park and took turns skateboarding down the sidewalk. They ended the day going back to the house and Harry spent some time in his room looking over the supply list while Sirius and Willy cooked a huge birthday dinner and wrapping his presents.

"Harry!" Sirius' voice came a few hours later. Harry snapped out of his daydream and went downstairs to the kitchen.

"I made all your favorites!" Sirius told him as Harry sat down. Spaghetti, garlic bread, and chocolate éclairs greeted him this time.

"Dig in!" Sirius exclaimed.

They ate in silence, but it wasn't an uncomfortable silence. It was a nice silence that made Harry feel like he was right at home.

Which made thinking of Hogwarts even worse. It would be a totally different environment with people he didn't know and he wouldn't even be able to go home. It was a boarding school.

"Are you okay? You look a little anxious," Sirius said after swallowing some spaghetti.

"I'm not. I'm just thinking."

"About what?"

"About all that has happened today. I think this was the best birthday of all," he said.

"Well, you haven't even opened your presents yet." Sirius got up and picked up two parcels and put them on the table.

"What is this?" Harry asked as he picked up the first.

He unwrapped his first present, which was a book on Potions. "This was your mother's. It was her favorite book. We all wondered how she was so good at potions, and this was how we found out. She would've wanted you to have it," Sirius explained. "Open it up," he continued.

Harry did so and found a small locket. Inscribed on the front was 'HAPPY BIRTHDAY HARRY!' and on the inside were pictures of James and Lily on either side.

"They got this made the day you were born. They gave it to me to give to you one day just in case they…"

"I know Sirius," Harry said and put the locket on top of the book.

He opened the bigger present with more enthusiasm just because he was more curious as to what was in it.

His mouth hung open with shock as he picked up a broomstick. "It's a Nimbus Two Thousand. Brand new. I think I was the first person to buy one. Your father had a knack for Quidditch. I don't doubt for a minute that you inherited his amazing talent. And I also don't doubt that you'll make your house team," Sirius explained.

"You never told me all this stuff about my parents before. Why are you now?" Harry wondered.

"I just figured the time was right is all. Why don't you go outside and see what that thing can do?" Sirius suggested.

"Okay!" Harry exclaimed and ran outside to test it.

It wasn't long before he was doing all kinds of tricks that would've given James a run for his money. Sirius took advantage of this and threw rocks into the air while Harry did his best at catching them. He wasn't that bad either.

They continued this until dark when Sirius called him inside. "I hope you had a good birthday Harry. Tomorrow we'll go into Diagon Alley to get your supplies, so you might want to go to bed a little early. Okay?" Sirius asked.

"Okay. And thanks for everything. Really," Harry said as he went upstairs.

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	3. Diagon Alley and Revelations

Harry awoke the next morning to the sound of voices. He recognized Sirius's, but the others were unfamiliar to him. Who were they? Had the wizarding world finally found them? To satisfy his curiosity, he got out of bed, put on his glasses and got dressed in a red t-shirt and ripped blue jeans and his black Converse. He hesitated as he walked downstairs, feeling on edge just in case they really had been caught.

To his surprise and relief, Sirius's voice drifted into his ears. He didn't seem angry or scared; on the contrary, he sounded almost as excited as he had the previous day.

"Harry! Come downstairs, there are some people I want you to meet!" Harry did as Sirius did, anxious to see what people his godfather was talking about.

He entered the living room slowly, looking into the faces of four people, Sirius included. "Harry, this is Remus Lupin, Alastor Moody, and Albus Dumbledore. They've agreed to join us in Diagon Alley today," Sirius explained.

His attention was immediately focused on Dumbledore. He knew this was the headmaster of the school he would be attending soon, and he wanted to see whether he was as nice as Sirius said he was.

Naturally, Dumbledore was the first person to speak to him. "Hello Harry. The last time we saw you you were a baby," he said, beaming at him.

The man Sirius had introduced as Remus Lupin continued from there. "You look so much like your father. But you have your mother's eyes. It's a pleasure to finally meet you." He offered his hand and Harry took it slowly. But before he could say a word, the last man spoke up, his voice much more gruff and unfriendly sounding.

"You look a lot better than I thought you would, Harry. I'm sure a trip down to Diagon Alley will make your day." The man known as Alastor Moody gave him a smile. Harry wanted to make himself stare into both of the man's eyes, but he found himself transfixed with the one that wasn't really an eye at all, if he wanted to be completely honest with himself.

"Well, time's wasting. I don't think Harry will want to spend all day at Diagon Alley, if you know what I mean." The four men nodded, careful to avoid the black-haired boy standing in the middle of them.

"What do you mean by that?" Harry found himself asking.

"Ah don't worry about that. You just concentrate on all the supplies you need to buy. School's coming up faster than you realize," Sirius spoke up, giving Harry an enormous smile. Harry couldn't remember him ever smiling as wide as that just then.

"Sirius is right. Come Harry. Have you ever traveled by floo powder?" Dumbledore asked as he took a small tin of what looked like a really big salt can out of his robes.

"No. What's floo powder?" Harry inquired.

"It is one method of wizard travel. Many witches and wizards prefer to travel this way if they can't apparate or choose not to. It's quite simple. Watch Alastor go first, then you can try," Dumbledore briefly explained.

Harry felt the words flash over his head. If he had a clue as to what his future headmaster had said he would've considered himself the smartest kid in the world. But he chose to take Dumbledore's advice and watched as the man with the peculiar eye step forward and took a pinch of the white powder from the tin. He walked inside the fireplace and turned towards the remaining four individuals in the room.

"Diagon Alley!" No sooner had Moody said this than a burst of green light engulfed the man and he disappeared instantly.

Harry stared at the three men incredulously. They were joking. They had to be; there was no way that was going to work. But Dumbledore didn't seem to think so. He walked over to Harry and offered the tin.

"See? I told you it would be easy. Just take a little bit of the powder. Step into the fireplace and say your destination, which would be Diagon Alley, and make sure you say it very clearly. Keep everything inside the fireplace. We don't want any extra parts to stay here. There would be a lot of explaining to do those who just happened to be watching at the time. Don't be nervous, don't stutter…"

"Harry, just do what Mr. Moody did and you will do just fine," Sirius interrupted.

Harry trued to keep all this in mind as he stepped into the fireplace. Three pairs of eyes were watching him, pride and certainty clearly visible on their faces. What were they expecting him to do? Just succeed and do all pretend he hadn't just seen a man disappear from this same fireplace not moments before?

"D-Diagon Al-Alley!" Harry stammered and threw the powder down just as Moody had done before. Just as it had done previously, green light had arisen from the bottom of the fireplace and was making its way towards the top. Harry was blasted by a rush of cold air and he had an urge to keep his glasses from falling off his face. He didn't know what he'd do if they broke. He knew Sirius couldn't afford new ones at the moment.

No sooner had the sensation came than it had evaporated. He found himself on a cold stone floor, the sound of hurrying people's footsteps surrounding him. A gruff voice shouted at him from above, "Hey you boy, watch it!"

Harry shot up as if he had just sat on a porcupine and looked around desperately for a familiar face. To his relief, Moody was standing just two feet away, watching the crowd suspiciously. He casually walked up to him, hoping he didn't look as stupid as he felt.

Nothing was said between them. Harry preferred it that way. He still didn't feel too comfortable around him yet. Luckily, he didn't have to wait long to say anything, because Sirius' voice jumped out at him from the area he had just abandoned.

"Harry, you made it! I wasn't too sure since it was your first trip by Floo Powder, but I knew you could do it!" Sirius beamed up at him as if he had just won the Quidditch World Cup or something.

"I'm fine Sirius, really," he shrugged and pulled out his grasp. Lupin and Dumbledore had come into Diagon Alley seconds after each other, and they started walking down the road not long after.

Harry suddenly wished he had three more pairs of eyes so he could see everything at once. There was a Quidditch supply store, an Apothecary, a robe store, and a magical pet store, among many others. He couldn't help but be amazed.

"Sirius, how come you've never taken me here before?" Harry demanded as he tried to peel his eyes away from the broomstick in the display window.

"I don't know Harry. There really wasn't any need until now," he uttered, clearly amused by Harry's amazement.

"Well, the first thing I would suggest is getting your school robes," the man known as Dumbledore spoke up.

"Best save time. Remus and I will get his books. Sirius, why don't you go and get him some money? I daresay it's time he finds his fortune," Moody spoke up.

At this point he had Harry's complete attention. "Fortune? What fortune?"

"Hasn't Sirius ever told you? Your parents were downright rich. When they died they left it all to you," he briefly explained and, with a slight smile, walked away with Lupin.

Disappointed with Moody's response, Harry turned to his soon-to-be headmaster. "Why do I have a fortune and nobody's told me until now?" he asked, trying not to be angry.

"I'm sure Sirius was looking out for your best interests. Your parents wanted you to have the money when you were older. You couldn't exactly buy a lot when you were a baby, and growing up. And besides, Sirius still has a great deal of money himself. He wasn't about to use yours when he had plenty of his own. Ah hello, Madam Malkin!" Dumbledore changed the subject when he noticed a cheerful witch enter the room.

"Professor Dumbledore, I never expected…well what can I do for you?" Madam Malkin asked, trembling slightly.

"You cannot do anything for me, I am afraid. However," he said a little louder, for the witch had sighed lightly and had a very dissatisfied look about her, "young Harry here needs some school robes."

Her face had changed expressions as if a little switch inside of her had flipped. She suddenly became aware of the boy standing beside Dumbledore.

"Good heavens! Harry Potter!" she exclaimed, her face blushing even more than it had been a second ago. "Oh I never would've expected! Come stand here, and I'll start measuring!" Madam Malkin took Harry's arm and pulled him to a platform in the middle of the room and took out a tape measure and her wand. She muttered something and the tape measure started to take Harry's measurements by itself while Madam Malkin took wrote it all down.

"Very good, very good. I'll get some robes and then we'll get started!" She hurried off, acting like she was going to start a very long and exciting project.

Harry took the opportunity to ask Dumbledore a few questions. "Why was that woman so excited to see me?" he asked.

But to his surprise, Dumbledore was not where he had been standing a few seconds before, but was wandering through the racks of robes, looking very interested in everything. Harry had a feeling he was avoiding Harry because of the questions he had been about to ask him.

Madam Malkin was back in twenty seconds, and had started fitting him. "Try not to move too much," she told him.

Harry did his best not to move very much. He passed the time by trying to form all the questions he had into actual words, and tried to decide which one he should ask first.

"All done, my dear!" Madam Malkin said cheerfully, and handed him a bag with his new school robes. Dumbledore had returned and paid for them himself. As soon as they were out of the robe shop Harry started his interrogation of Dumbledore.

"Why was that woman so excited to see me? And why is that she knew my name?"

"Because I told her your name!" Dumbledore said happily.

"You only told her my first name. She knew my entire name. Why?"

Dumbledore sighed. "I'm not the right person to tell you. If Sirius did not tell you, then he must've had a reason for it, and he should be the one to answer your questions, not me. Ah, here they are now," he said, and pointed ahead.

Harry turned to see Moody, Lupin, and Sirius walking towards them. Sirius was smiling at him, holding up a leather pouch. Harry didn't smile back. For the first time in his life, he was not happy to see his godfather.

"We got his books, supplies, and his money. All that's left is the wand," Moody said gruffly.

"I'll go with him to get it," Lupin offered, and hurried him off before Harry could start throwing his questions as Sirius.

Harry did say anything to Lupin. He didn't to talk to him. If he asked him the same question he asked Dumbledore he would get the same response.

The process of getting Harry's wand was not at all what he thought it to be. He had spent the better part of an hour testing them and trying to find the one was the best for him. Ollivander was not pleased with any of them. Harry had started to feel as if he wasn't fit enough to receive one when Ollivander had thrust one into his grip, and warmth filtered inside him.

"Curious. Very curious," the wand maker said as he took the wand from him and started putting into it's wrapping.

"Sorry, but what's curious?" Harrry asked.

Ollivander explained to him that the phoenix whose feather resided in his wand gave just one other feather. That other feather resided in the wand that gave him his scar.

After that Lupin had rushed him out after Harry paid for his wand.

"We must be going, Sirius. Have a nice term, Harry!" Lupin said to him. Moody smiled again, and the two of them left.

"I must go too. Much to attend to before school starts." Dumbledore left as well not long after.

"Why didn't you ever tell me anything? Everybody here seems to know my name, and who I am. Why is that?" he asked, careful not show his anger at his godfather.

Sirius sighed. "I'm sorry. But there never is a good time to tell someone of their horrible past, is there?"

"Tell me now."

Sirius looked sadly down at Harry. "Okay. But remember, it's not going to be pleasant." And so he started his talking.

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**A/N: Sorry for the delay. Every version of this chapter came out like crap, and this is the best I could do. Sorry! Review!**


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